He Was Born on a Saturday
by SeveranDynasty
Summary: In honor of what would have been Severus Snape's 52nd birthday here is the story of his birth from his mother's point of view. One-shot, rated for some language.


**A/N: I did a little research and discovered that January 9, 1960 happened to be on a Saturday and that is how this one-shot came into being ;) Special thanks to my beta RemedialPotions !  
><strong>

* * *

><p>He was born on a Saturday, unwanted and unloved.<p>

The pain had started in the morning not long before noon. Eileen had been home alone, her husband was likely passed out somewhere, he often was on Saturday mornings.

I deserve to get plastered, he would say. Good and plastered after a hellish week of backbreaking work in the mines. He hated the mines with a passion but he'd had little choice in seeking employment there after the factory he had worked at since adolescence had closed down leaving him jobless.

Eileen couldn't help but cry, not from the waves of pain that came and went but from the reality of it all finally hitting her. Hitting her harder than the physical signs that she was carrying a child, it was even more real now than when she had felt it move for the very first time.

This wasn't a nightmare that she would be waking up from; this was real. There would be another mouth to feed inside the small terraced house on Spinner's End, a house still filthy from the fumes that had escaped from the now defunct mill that had given this rotten place it's name, and there was nothing she could do about the new addition now.

A new addition that could possibly have her husband's cold blue eyes or that could maybe even develop his personality. Just what the world needed, another suave charmer who was capable of being vicious and physically violent. She supposed it would be worse if the child were anything like her, especially with the way things were in the world. If it was sensitive and bright, and god-forbid magical, his father would probably beat it out of him or her. It wouldn't just be his father. This poor little corner of Yorkshire was no place for anyone who was at all like Eileen Prince. She had discovered that far too late.

She didn't want it and early in her pregnancy she'd made the mistake of telling that to Tobias. He'd struck her hard when she'd told him.

"If you get rid of it I'll bloody kill you!", he had shouted loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Tobias hadn't said it because he wanted the child, he'd only done it to be in control. He'd said it because he didn't want Eileen to have any say in the matter, even if she was the one that would be carrying it for nine months and then pushing it out.

She had once wanted children, it seemed so long ago that she had entertained the idea, but after her first three months as Tobias's wife she knew she couldn't bring a child into that house, not after what he'd put her through. But not wanting it hadn't stopped her from getting pregnant, and here she was now, about to give birth to the drunken bastard's spawn.

Eileen wasn't sure what she had hoped to accomplish by leaving the house, she could have stayed in the house and had it on the ancient sagging bed she was forced to share with her husband. She couldn't bring herself to have it there though, not in that horrible cramped little room that smelled of Tobias. She'd put her coat on and taken out the small amount of money she kept hidden away from her husband. It wasn't enough to get a cab to take her to hospital, not all the way. So she'd walk part of the way, she decided, and then hail a cab once she could afford to pay.

Her neighbor, Mrs. MacCready, had seen Eileen leaving the house and she'd known what was going on right away. The older woman offered to take Eileen to hospital. It seemed her husband was still asleep after a bender and wouldn't be needing the car, a fairly new turquoise Anglia, one of the nicest cars in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood children never dared play football anywhere near it for fear of damaging the car and thus incurring the wrath of Mr. MacCready. He was a good sort really, nothing like Eileen's husband. He did have a few too many on occasion and sometimes he was quick to anger, especially when it came to his cars well-being, but he was good to his wife and he was never violent. Eileen only accepted because she knew her neighbor wouldn't mind his wife taking the car out and because now she wasn't so sure she'd be able to walk as far as she'd planned.

It was all a blur for Eileen after that point. She'd been left at hospital in the care of the sisters. After several hours of waiting they finally told her that everything was ready, they took her into a room, a doctor appeared and she was given something. Something that made her feel strange. There was still discomfort, quite a lot of it actually, but it seemed to slip away from her and she would quickly forget that she had been in pain. The forgetting only increased the shock and surprise she felt when another fresh round of pain coursed through her. The cycle of forgetting continued even after the pain had stopped.

It stopped at twilight, when it was born, when _he_ was born.

It was a boy. A rather small, puny looking boy whose weak mewling cry had sounded like it was coming from a dying kitten and the sound seemed muted. Whether this was due to the state she was in or the child itself she could not be sure. One expected a cry to be loud and piercing but this one was a strange sound. The sound did not last and the drowsy newborn ceased to make noise and shut its eyes, or perhaps simply closed them tighter for the small puffed eyelids had seemed to be closed already. Eileen quickly followed suit and fell into a deep sleep.

When Eileen awoke she found herself in a different part of the ward. She inspected her surroundings while she sat in the cold, sterile, very crowded and very noisy maternity ward. One of the sisters noticed that she was awake and she gave her a small smile before signaling one of the younger nurses to come. Words were exchanged between the two before she walked toward Eileen.

"You'll be seeing your son in just a moment Mrs. Snape," she said, the same kind smile from earlier reappearing on her face.

Eileen wasn't sure she wanted to see it, but she said nothing.

The young nurse returned with something swaddled in a blue blanket and placed it in Eileen's arms. Sensing that she needed to be alone the sister led the young nurse away.

Eileen peered down at what she was holding in her arms.

So, this was her son. Tobias's son. The one she had wanted to get rid of.

She still felt nothing as she inspected her son's pale face with red blotches and the dark tufts of hair on his oddly shaped head, but then his eyelids began to flutter and she could see his eyes. They were dark, incredibly dark, just like her own. It was strange that this gave her so much pleasure, and it wasn't just pleasure she felt, there was a shadow of something else, something she hadn't felt in a long time.

So, he didn't have his father's eyes, she thought once more, feeling triumphant. Only time would tell if he had inherited Tobias's nose, even so she could possibly come to love this strange little creature. She smiled, a strange little creature with a strange little name.

Severus Snape was born on a Saturday, unwanted and unloved by all, except one.

* * *

><p>Please review!<p> 


End file.
